Man on Wire is a 2008 British documentary film directed by James Marsh. The film chronicles Philippe Petit's 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center. It is based on Petit's book, To Reach the Clouds, released in paperback with the title Man on Wire. The title of the movie is taken from the police report that led to the arrest (and later release) of Petit, whose performance had lasted for almost one hour. The film is crafted like a heist film, presenting rare footage of the preparations for the event and still photographs of the walk, alongside re-enactments (with Paul McGill as the young Petit) and present-day interviews with the participants, including Barry Greenhouse, an insurance executive who served as the inside man.[3] (High Wire (1986) was a short documentary on the same subject, featuring music by Michael Nyman.)

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The film's producer Simon Chinn first encountered Philippe Petit in April 2005 on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, after which he decided to try to acquire the film rights to his book, To Reach the Clouds. After months of discussion, Petit agreed, with the condition that he could actively collaborate in the making of the film. In an interview conducted during the run of Man on Wire at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, director James Marsh explained that he was drawn to the story in part because it immediately struck him as "a heist movie". As Jean Francois, one of Petit's collaborators later said, "It may have been illegal...but it wasn’t wicked or mean."[6]

Marsh also said that, as a New Yorker, he saw the film as a gift to the city since the 9/11 attacks. He said he hopes to hear people say that they will now always think of Petit and his performance when recalling the World Trade Center's twin towers.[7] Responding to questioning as to why the towers' destruction in the 2001 attacks is not mentioned in the film, Marsh explained that Philippe Petit's act was "incredibly beautiful" and that it "would be unfair and wrong to infect his story with any mention, discussion or imagery of the Towers being destroyed."[8]

Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 100% of the 151 reviews they have collected have been positive. As of August 2008, this was the second-best reviewed movie on the website. The film also received a "Golden Tomato" for best documentary of 2008.[14] On Metacritic, Man on Wire enjoys a weighted average score of 89/100.[15]

The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008.[16]Movie City News shows that the film appeared in 76 different top ten lists, out of 286 different critics' lists surveyed, the joint 7th "most mentions" on a top ten list of the films released in 2008.[17]